# True Horror.



## Automata heart (Dec 18, 2010)

Hi. My name is Sakura, and I am writing a horror manga.:dead: 
I only have a setting at the moment, so i was wondering if any of you guys and girls had any ideas. My setting is a disused mental hospital, or normal disused hospital.
so, have a go! but be warned i may use these ideas, but i will ask first!


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## spaekle (Dec 18, 2010)

Things with creepy hospital settings usually play up the  body horror. Maybe check out some of the films on that wiki page for ideas?


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## ignore_this_acct (Dec 18, 2010)

Watch Elfen lied for inspiration. But just a warning: It contains lots of gore and nudity.


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## Saith (Dec 19, 2010)

Ehhh, that's not really horror, though...
You should go and watch every episode of Zero Punctuation to get ideas on how a horror _should_ be done.
Though that's only for games, it's still the same principle.


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## Firelord Alex (Dec 19, 2010)

Incorporate spiders.  Those are scary.  Maybe some freaky hallucinations of patients that begin coming to life!


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## Flareth (Dec 19, 2010)

WARNING: TVTROPES

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HorrorTropes

These may be able to help you.


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## Aisling (Dec 19, 2010)

Elfien Lied is a different kind of horror :p (as in horrible)

If you're doing horror manga, you should check out stuff by Junji Ito. All of his shit is creepy and horror-ful and yeah.. (Uzumaki is probably his most popular)


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## octobr (Dec 19, 2010)

Junji Ito is a pretty wonderful guy, but I do find his stuff kind of dry after a while. I got pretty bored of Tomie. However, he does do horror pretty well -- he isn't presenting you with OH SCAAAARY things, you know, the cheap shitty jump scares. 

If you want to know how to do horror well, find some good short fiction. I feel like those are often the best you can find. But let's be honest, EA Poe is boring as fuck and classic horror doesn't translate well anymore. Lovecraft does do some good stuff, but I feel like his short, elder god-free material doesn't go as far as it should. Most Dangerous Game is pretty nice, though likely not the horror you're looking for (read it anyway). 

More up your alley for inspiration ... ah, of course. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. Also play the game if you can find it, good stuff. 

Oh, found you this. http://www.classichorrorstories.com/stories/stories.html _Read_. Some of them are pretty good -- lots of Lovecraft works on there, classics like The Monkey's Paw, Minister's Black Veil, etc. 

Find the Yellow Wallpaper if you're going the madness route, I think.

Maybe try an excerpt of House of Leaves.

The thing is, horror is not in gore or flash fear. You don't need to have huge spiders or thousands of dead people everywhere to scare someone -- it kind of cheeses it up and dulls the end horror. I find the most effective horror is the lingering kind. The kind that takes something average and makes it scary, or that makes you afraid of something that _could_ be there.

You know when you look at a picture of a long dark hall and expect something horrifying to show up, only realizing it's not a .gif _after_ you've terrified yourself? 



Gotta say though, the mental hospital thing is pretty tired. The anything hospital thing really. 

Lemme see if I can find some good horror manga.


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## Automata heart (Dec 19, 2010)

thank you everyone! i'm using t.v tropes, i watch zero punctuation every week, as well as Extra credit. i'm also using silent hill as insperation, i like its use of suspence. Verne, i'm going to read those storys you sent me, thank you heaps. i've actualy read alot of poe, and like the way he writes, but have only read a few all the way through, the black cat, and a few others. i'm using the hospital because i have spent alot of time there during my life, and i know them, and find them interesting. i also agree with you in the fact that horror is not gore. blood and guts don't scare as much as not knowing. firelord alex, i would use spiders, but, both can i not draw them, but i have cronic aracnaphobia, and they terify me. but i like your idea for hallucinations of patients coming to life. i've chosen its to be about a little girl who goes insane because of a twin telepithy thing...now i type it down it sounds trashy. anyone got a better idea? 
thank you eveyone, and please continue to coment.
love and gosts,
sakura.


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## hopeandjoy (Dec 19, 2010)

Creepy Vocaloid songs might give you an idea. No, I don't mean Alice of Human Sacrifice. I mean:

The End of Hatsune Miku
Hyper∞LATiON
A 13 Year Old Killer
Circle You, Circle You (though orphanages have been done to death)
Fear Garden
Steel Cage Princess
Dark Woods Circus
Blue Ice Castle
Red Swamp Bottom
Wide Knowledge  of the Late, Madness (once again, mental hospitals are over done. But now you know what to do.)


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## Storm Earth and Fire (Dec 19, 2010)

As far as horror goes, I'd suggest checking out visual novels like Saya no Uta or Chaos;Head. Just scratching the surface there, visual novels have proved to be a great vehicle for horror.


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## Automata heart (Dec 20, 2010)

ketsu, wow, i'm a huge vocaloid fan and wide knowlage of the last madness gave me the idea to write this, as well as black and white ward. Storm earth and fire, thank you, if i can find them, i'll give them i read.


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